Moog and Fuhr's careers overlapped for 15 years and other than the 87-88 season where Fuhr was outstanding and Moog was holding out and playing in the Olympics, it's hard to find a season where Fuhr was better in the regular seasons. 1995-96 I guess, when Moog was 36 years old.
That's probably fair, but recall that when Moog left Edmonton he went to a defense-first team (Boston), whereas Fuhr went to no-defence teams (Buffalo and L.A.). Then, Moog went to another defence-first team that was on the rise (Dallas). In terms of clubs played for, Moog may well be the single "luckiest" goalie who played for three or more teams.
That said, I agree Moog was an above-average goalie of the 1980s through early-1990s...
in the regular season.
Moog went 7-0 in the playoffs for that team in their Cup years. It was just a case where Fuhr got hot in the '84 Cup run and then became the guy for the future runs after that. If they'd played Moog, I don't think the results would have been any different.
Hmm, I dunno about that. Through the 1983-84 regular season, Moog had played far more playoff games than Fuhr, and had won 4 playoff series, while Fuhr had won zero. Then, why did the coaching staff plug Fuhr to play most of the all-important 1984 playoff games?
Looking back at it, Fuhr played all three games vs. Winnipeg. Then, he played all of the first four vs. Calgary, with Edmonton up 3 games to 1. Fuhr had a rough night in game five, and was pulled midway for Moog who stopped 13 of 13. However, the coaching staff went right back to Fuhr for game six (which the Oilers lost in overtime). Somewhat surprisingly, the coaching staff then switched to Moog to start game seven... and Moog let in 3 of 8 shots, before being pulled in the 2nd. Fuhr came in, and stopped 14 of 15 and the Oilers won. In round three (vs. Minnesota), they went right back to Fuhr. In game two, Fuhr was seemingly pulled again -- or maybe they just rested him? -- after 42 minutes of play, despite the clubs being tied (Moog credited with the "win", but faced only 7 shots). With the Oilers comfortably up by two games, they finally started Moog in game three... and he let in 5 goals in eight minutes of play in the second period. Only a miracle comeback by Edmonton in the third allowed them to win again. They put Fuhr back in in game four, and he stopped 24 of 25 shots to close out the series. As you know, Fuhr started in the Finals: 34-save shutout in game one, rough night in game two (but they still didn't put in Moog, despite the score getting out of hand), and was going great guns in game three until he was injured in the third period. Moog went in and played well to finish off the Islanders.
So, anyway, it wasn't a case of "he got hot so they rode him", but rather that the Oilers' coaching staff clearly chose Fuhr to start all the big 1984 series and games, and twice when Moog did get key starts (game 7 of round two, and game 3 of round three), he blew it with poor performances.
Thereafter, the Oilers' staff almost always preferred Fuhr, giving Moog only a few starts in the playoffs, generally when the series was already over with the Oilers up 3-0.
I'm not saying that decision was correct, but that was a conscious choice by the Oilers' staff.
My own take on would be that in the regular season the two goalies were very even in the 1980s, but that in the playoffs (1982 obviously excepted) Fuhr was superior. Whereas Fuhr tended to elevate his game to rarefied levels under pressure (see: 1986 game six vs. Calgary and 1987 game seven vs. Philly, for masterful performances), Moog generally did not (1984 Finals being an exception, but he really only had to be average even then to get the wins). And in the 1988 and 1990 Finals (against Edmonton), Moog was actually kind of brutal.
